


the unexpected date

by heelsandarrows



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-30 01:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5145272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heelsandarrows/pseuds/heelsandarrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘i work in a restaurant and it looks like you got stood up and you looked so upset and on the nerve of crying so i decided to save your night which resulted in me getting fired so i could go on a date with you and now youre actually crying because you feel guilty’</p>
            </blockquote>





	the unexpected date

Doug looked down at his watch, it was just 10 minutes past 7. Traffic must've been bad, right? Even though they were coming from the same direction, and it really wasn't that bad.

He ran his fingers through hair, it wasn't really like her to have been late. They'd been on two dates already, Doug thought that they went well. 

"Can I get you something to drink?" Doug put his glasses back on and looked up at his waitress.

"Just water's fine," he told her. Within another 10 minutes he'd finished 2 glasses of water. He lost his patience and focus to just wait and see if she'd come and began to draw on the table. It was childish, but he was thankful for the paper tablecloth. 

"No show yet?" The waitress stopped by his table again. 

"Probably just forgot the time."

She nodded, "Ah, right... Do you want to order in the meantime?"

"Uh, no, I'll wait. Thanks." She left again and he went back to staring at the empty spot in front of him. 

20 minutes had now passed, he tried to get his mind off his hungry stomach and that feeling of hopelessness. He preoccupied himself with sketching out the different patrons of the restaurant. 

"Those are pretty good," he jumped slightly and turned around. The waitress was leaning over his shoulder looking at his drawings. "You've got Mr Mckinley down perfectly," she pointed at the old man he sketched. 

Doug looked up at her, "Uh, thanks..."

She leaned against the table, "So, here's the thing. If you've been here for 50 minutes and haven't ordered anything yet, I gotta kick you out. However, I don't wanna do that. So, I've take it upon myself to order you just a regular steak, if you're a vegetarian you can just have the potatoes. Don't worry about paying, I'll take care of it for you. You just looked so down, I'd hate to have to kick you out and ruin your night more. Especially if you haven't eaten. I know sometimes when things like this happen you, get in a funk and forget to eat so," she shrugged slightly. 

Doug blinked, it was a lot to take in at once. "Oh, thank you," he wasn't sure why she was caring about him so much, yet he appreciated it. He didn't think he felt that bad though, but apart of him didn't even realize the whole situation. 

The fact he got stood up felt so strange. It was the first time it had happened to him. He wasn't really sure how to feel. Part of him was worried, was is date okay? Did she have some family problem? Or was it something he did? Could he have done something different?

Doug tried to clear his mind and he went back to sketching the matradie. Around another 5 or 10 minutes later, (he lost count) his waitress came back over. 

She had two plates, a steak dinner, like she told him, and a dish of what looked like Chicken Alfredo. It was to his surprise that she set both plates down. 

The bigger surprise? That she sat down on the other side of his spot. "Do you mind?" She said out of mere politeness than seriously asking. "I haven't eaten all day, nor have I had a break yet and I've been working since like 3," She shoveled pasta into her mouth. 

"I don't mind.... But, don't you have other things to do? I don't want you to get in trouble or anything."

"Oh yeah, I mean, I've got other people covering the other tables I'm supposed to be waiting. I could probably get fired, but honestly I wouldn't care. I hate this job anyway."

Doug nodded then stuck his fork in the potatos. "Why? Why're you being nice to me? I don't get it. Do I know you?"

The waitress shook her head, "Probably not, I have no recollection of seeing you ever, and you're not a face I'd forget easily." She took another bite of her food then held out her hand to him. "Priyanka, though I suppose you may already know that, if you can read."

It didn't even strike him to look at her name tag. Whenever she walked by or talked to him, he only ever looked at her face. “Doug,” he introduced himself shaking her hand. "So you never answered my question. Why're you doing this?"

Priyanka gave him a shrug, "I've been here for awhile, I've seen a lot of people get stood up. I've been stood up before, I know how it feels. I felt bad."

"You feel bad? Listen, thank you, but I don't need your charity, I'm going to be fine okay? If you're risking your job sitting here, then that's not good. I don't want you to lose your job because you feel bad for me. If you need the table, I’ll leave. I understand.” 

His waitress shook her head, “I don’t care if I lose my job. I was probably going to quit sometime this week anyway. There’s only so much flirting from Mr. McKinley I can take every Thursday, mixed with the harassment from my boss, lack of breaks, low pay. It’s not worth it to be here.” He wasn’t sure exactly why, but what she had been saying got to him. Doug took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. Tears started to fall. “Oh my god, are you okay?” Priyanka had looked back at him, noticed the tears spilling out of his eyes. She put her fork down and sat down at the empty chair next to him. 

Doug shook his head, “I’m fine,” he contradicted. “I just don’t want you to lose your job because you’re a decent person. Even if it sucks, in the end it’d still be my fault you lost it. If I had just trusted my gut 30 minutes ago and left this wouldn’t have happened.” 

Tentatively she placed her hand on his back, rubbing it slightly in an attempt to comfort him, “It’s fine… You did nothing wrong, you were just being optimistic, it’s fine. This isn’t your fault. If I lose my job it’s my fault. I’m the one who kept you here by ordering you food and sitting down with you because you looked lonely.”

At her last words it seemed to finally hit him, he’d gotten stood up. Stood up by someone he trusted and have high hopes for. Who does that? Who agrees to a date then never shows up? “Oh my god,” Doug muttered placing his head in his hands. “I got stood up…” He felt foolish for breaking down like this. Priyanka handed him a napkin and he wiped at his eyes again. He was thankful that she was there to comfort him at least. 

Then his comfort had diminished when a voice had called out and drew his shoulder to cry on away. Priyanka assured him it was only going to be a minute or two and she’d be back. He did want to believe her, but at the same time, how could he trust her? She was a complete stranger to him. 

5 minutes passed and he managed to calm down. She wasn’t back, but she was still on his mind. He picked at the potatoes on his plate, then ended up eating her Chicken Alfredo dish she left behind. He saw her walking around bussing tables, and going back to work. He thought about leaving, but he wanted to talk with her once more before he did. So he waited again.

Doug finished eating then went back to sketching. He couldn't get her smile out if his head. It was seared in there. He moved the plates out of the way to get more room and began just a small sketch of her. He found himself never feeling the need to lift his pen up and look at her, to make sure things were accurate. The impression she had made was stuck in his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

15 minutes passed. He was still drawing. Putting in more details into it than any of the other people he drew that night. He didn't even noticed she’d returned. Priyanka picked up the plates and looked down at his drawing. “Is that supposed to be me?” She asked giving him a small smile. 

He pushed his glasses up and looked over at her, “Uh…”

Before he could explain himself, she spoke up again. “You know. If you’re done eating you can leave. I meant it when I said I’d pay for the meal, and I’m not going to accept a no for an answer. I mean, if you wanted you could stick around for another 45 minutes when I get off, but I’m sure you’ve got other plans.” 

“Uh, thanks. I just didn't want to leave before thanking you, for being kind to me tonight, it really helped.”

Priyanka looked down and blushed slightly, “It’s not a problem, just doing my job, keeping the customers satisfied,” she shrugged. 

“Well you really went above and beyond tonight. Do you still have your job? I wasn't sure what happened when you got called away.”

“Oh,” she laughed softly, “I do, unfortunately. It’s probably not the worst thing, I need the money, but it was just a very strong warning tonight. It’s been pretty low staff lately, the manager has a hard time letting people go. I mean, I complain about it a lot, but it’s not all bad. I mean tonight I met you!”

Doug smiled and nodded, “Yeah, there’s always a bright side.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, “Well, I better get back to it then. It was nice to meet you,” she left again giving him a wave. 

Doug looked down at the drawing he did. He was tired, he wanted to go home, at the same time, he wanted to stay and wait for her to get off. He did still have an essay to finish tonight too. He sighed and took out his pen again. ‘Thanks for the night, I know you said not to worry about the food, so consider this your tip’ he drew an arrow to a blank spot on the table. He dug out his wallet and laid $40 down. He wasn't sure how much dinner was, but figured it would be enough. It didn't matter in the end, because even without the meal, her service to him tonight was worth $40.

He got up to leave then turned back to the table. He stared for a while before taking action. He scrawled down his number on the table with instructions for her to call him. Then he left. He felt more excited about the idea of Priyanka possibly calling him, than he had for this date in the first place. 

Around 10 minutes later Priyanka looked over, noticing that Doug had left. She sighed slightly, and went over to clean the table up. She actually thought that he might’ve been interested in her, choose to stay and wait. Once again she’d gotten her hopes up. 

Arriving at the table the first thing she laid eyes on was the sketch of her. She wasn't sure why she thought it meant anything special, especially since there were so many other drawings of guests and people in the restaurant. It was just what he did. Then the note and money caught her eye. She smiled to herself reading it then picked up the cash, not even bothering to count it. 

Then near the edge of the table she saw it. His number, telling her to call him. She bit her lip and blushed slightly. Maybe she was right in the beginning, maybe there could be something there. She ripped out his number from the tablecloth and pocketed it. She wasn't planning on it, but impulse took over and she ripped out the drawing of herself, and his note.

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to my v v good and wonderful friend geety who put this idea in my head and for giving me so many good headcanons and makin me cry over the maheswarans


End file.
